Mashable
British multinational fashion retailer TopShop is obsessed with producing clear plastic jeans, but the problem is it's unlikely anyone will actually buy them, at least if social media is any indication. You can always rely on Twitter to call BS on strange and highly unnecessary new trends. One concerned person asked Topshop if it was feeling OK.
NYSportsJournalism.com
As the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs begins this week, brands have hit the ice with marketing efforts on TV, Internet, social media, POP and other fan and consumer activation in the U.S. and Canada, including Geico, Gatorade, Enterprise, Pepsi, Bridgestone, Reese's, SAP, ScotiaBank, Honda, PPG Paints and Sonnet Insurance.
St. Louis Post
Despite reports that a group led by former New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush had won an auction for the Miami Marlins baseball team, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said no bids have yet been accepted. Any sale must also be approved by 75% of the major league teams.
Chicago Tribune
McDonald's stand-alone ad agency We Are Unlimited finally has a chief creative officer, months after its founding. Toygar Bazarkaya, most recently Havas Worldwide's chief creative officer of the Americas, will report to Ari Weiss, chief creative officer for DDB North America, who has been overseeing creative work since We Are Unlimited's founding earlier this year.
Associated Press
Coca-Cola said it will cut 1,200 jobs starting later this year as it deepens its cost-cutting. The pink slips will be issued to corporate staff around the world. The company said the cuts would help it find another $800 million in annualized savings, in addition to the $3 billion the company previously said it is trimming.
Washington Post
Chobani is suing right-wing provocateur Alex Jones, claiming he published articles and videos that falsely linked the company to child rape and a tuberculosis outbreak near its plant in Twin Falls, Idaho. The lawsuit, says Jones's Infowars website defamed Chobani and owner Hamdi Ulukaya in reports alleging the company's practice of hiring refugees had brought crime and disease to the town of 45,000.
Business of Fashion
G-III, the company that licenses Ivanka Trump ready-to-wear, has relabelled inventory as Adrienne Vittadini Studio and sold it to discount chain Stein Mart. It is not known whether this inventory was also sold to other retailers. Since the election of her father, Ivanka Trump-branded merchandise has been dropped from several prominent American retailers.
The New York Times
Church & Dwight Company, the makers of Trojan condoms, unveiled a campaign on Monday that it considers the most ambitious in the brand's history. The campaign introduces a new product, XOXO, that is basically a typical condom. But it comes in more gender-neutral purple packaging and includes a carrying case that could slip easily (and discreetly) into a purse.
Detroit Free Press
General Motors can no longer avoid lawsuits from potential victims of ignition-switch defects because the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the automaker's appeal of a lower-court ruling. The decision may expose the automaker to new liabilities for a defect that killed at least 124 people and injured 275 in small cars such as the Chevrolet Cobalt and Saturn Ion.
Crain's Detroit Business
Quicken Loans Inc. has hired former Fiat advertising executive Casey Hurbis as its new chief marketing officer. Hurbis will lead the company's consumer-facing marketing team and is responsible for all online and traditional marketing initiatives. He succeeds Jay Farner, who was promoted in February from CMO to CEO of Quicken Loans.